There are some depths to which Jelved just will not go

One of the little-known benefits of the single currency is the “reduction of public depths”, according to the European Union of Christian Democratic Workers.

European Voice

10/4/00, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 6:06 AM CET

Perhaps it would have made all the difference if the Danes had realised this before going to the polls last week to give the poor old euro another confidence-denting put-down.

Denmark’s Economics Minister Marianne Jelved was regretting the lack of Danish public depth after the vote, insisting that she and others could not have tried harder to convince everyone that the euro was a really jolly good thing.

No, she told reporters, she would not be resigning, because the euro was a cross-party issue and not a battle between government and opposition.

She paused for a minute and then, in one of those all-to-rare moments of political honesty, added: “Besides, I don’t see any alternative to my post.”